Hijacking

Hijacking usually refers to the unlawful seizure of an aircraft. However, in the Mercenaries series, the term is used to refer to the stealing of any kind of vehicle from a faction member or a civilian.

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Hijacking is a fairly simple operation, consisting of moving the mercenary into a green hijacking circle near a vehicle. However, vehicles with gunners cannot be hijacked until they have been eliminated. Helicopters cannot be hijacked unless they are close to the ground. Even so, this still results in the mercenary jumping comically high distances to reach the vehicle. The hijack will always succeed and never fail. The merc can also hijack allied faction vehicles, however, when standing in the circle instead of saying "hijack" it says "commandeer" but performs the same thing, fortunately this does not anger allied soldiers or turn down their mood towards the merc unless they are killed from a height after being hijacked in a helicopter. This applies to any friendly factions. The merc can only hijack helicopters if the faction driving them are neutral or lower, any higher than neutral and you will not be given the option to jump up and hijack it.

Hijacking of civilian or smaller vehicles is basically the same as in the first game. However, gunners in light vehicles no longer need to be killed. The hijacking of higher class vehicles, such as helicopters and tanks, has now been changed to a small minigame, the difficulty of which is relative to value of the vehicle. For example, a small transport helicopter would only require the player to push two buttons, while a heavy tank would require four or five. Gunners on tanks and APCs need to be killed before hijacking can be performed.

Helicopter hijacking has now been made easier with the addition of a grappling hook that becomes available to the mercenary after recruiting Eva Navarro.

Before hijacking a tank, the player must first kill the soldier in the gunner seat, if it is occupied. After this is accomplished, or if there is no gunner, The player must get close to the barrel of the tank and, using the same button used to enter a vehicle, climb up it and begin the minigame. The minigame for hijacking a VZ tank consists of three button presses, while the ones for hijacking all other tanks may vary from two to four.

To hijack a VZ tank, one must press a button to force open the hatch, press another button to knock away the driver's pistol, and repeatedly press another button to pull off the driver's grenade, which the player then arms and drops into the cabin, presumably killing the driver.

To hijack one kind of AN tank, the player must only press two buttons; one button to open the hatch, and another to subdue the driver, who promptly climbs out and initiates a martial arts routine.

Before the player meets Eva, hijacking moving helicopters is extremely difficult, as this is only possible when the player is elevated from the ground and the helicopter flies close to him or her. However, once the player recruits Eva and obtains a grappling hook, the hijacking of helicopters is much more easy, as the player can successfully hijack one from the ground. All that is required for the hijacking is that the helicopter must be close to the player and relatively close to the ground, and the player's crosshairs must be pointed at the helicopter. If the helicopter is close and the crosshairs are pointed at it, the player may press the same button used to enter a vehicle to grapple onto the vehicle.

The minigame required to hijack a helicopter can range from two button presses to four, and six when the player must hijack Solano's helicopter during the last mission.

The button combo for a lightly armed or unarmed helicopter, such as the Kestrel, is very simple; one button to open the door, another pressed repeatedly to drag the pilot out of the cabin. The combo for a heavily armed helicopter, such as the Rogue Assassin, typically consists of four buttons; One to open the door, one pressed repeatedly to drag the pilot out, one to knock the pilot, who has grabbed hold of the player, and one more to push the pilot of for good.